Environmental Protection Agency August 2010 – Federal Register Recent Federal Regulation Documents

This notice announces the Agency's receipt of several initial filings of pesticide petitions proposing the establishment or modification of regulations for residues of pesticide chemicals in or on various commodities.

In compliance with the Paperwork Reduction Act (44 U.S.C. 3501 et seq.), this document announces that an Information Collection Request (ICR) has been forwarded to the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) for review and approval. This is a request to renew an existing approved collection. The ICR which is abstracted below describes the nature of the collection and the estimated burden and cost.

EPA is publishing a revised list of pesticide registration service fees applicable to specified pesticide applications and tolerance actions. In accordance with the Pesticide Registration Improvement Renewal Act, the registration service fees for covered pesticide registration applications received on or after October 1, 2010, will increase by 5 percent, rounded up to the nearest dollar amount, from the fees published for fiscal years 2009 and 2010. The new fees become effective on October 1, 2010.

EPA proposes to approve the State Implementation Plan (SIP) revision submitted by the State of Delaware consisting of administrative and non-substantive changes to the Delaware air pollution control regulations which EPA has previously approved as part of the Delaware State Implementation Plan (SIP). In the Final Rules section of this Federal Register, EPA is approving the State's SIP submittal as a direct final rule without prior proposal because the Agency views this as a noncontroversial submittal and anticipates no adverse comments. A detailed rationale for the approval is set forth in the direct final rule. If no adverse comments are received in response to this action, no further activity is contemplated. If EPA receives adverse comments, the direct final rule will be withdrawn and all

EPA proposes to approve revisions to the Missouri State Implementation Plan (SIP) submitted by the state on June 17, 2009. The purpose of these revisions is to rescind the rule More Restrictive Emission Limitations for Particulate Matter in South St. Louis Area and to approve revisions to the rule Restriction of Emission of Particulate Matter from Industrial Processes which makes corrections and clarifications, and adds exemptions to the rule. EPA is proposing approval of the SIP provisions pursuant to section 110 of the Clean Air Act (CAA).

EPA is proposing to approve revisions to the State Implementation Plan (SIP) and Operating Permits Program to revise the state definition of volatile organic compounds; clarify language and incorporate rules related to construction permits to incorporate application fees and include a mechanism to use construction permits to accomplish other permitting needs; and clarify language related to open fires and explicitly include an exemption for fires used for religious activities. Approval of these revisions will ensure consistency between the state and Federally-approved rules.

EPA is proposing to amend specific provisions in the GHG reporting rule to clarify certain provisions, to correct technical and

The EPA Science Advisory Board (SAB) Staff Office announces a public meeting of the Advisory Council on Clean Air Compliance Analysis (Council). The Council will review a final draft of the EPA Office of Air and Radiation's Second Section 812 Prospective Analysis of the benefits and costs of the Clean Air Act.

In compliance with the Paperwork Reduction Act (44 U.S.C. 3501 et seq.), this document announces that EPA is planning to submit a continuing Information Collection Request (ICR) to the Office of Management and Budget (OMB). This is a request to renew an existing approved collection which is scheduled to expire on March 31, 2011. Before submitting the ICR to OMB for review and approval, EPA is soliciting comments on specific aspects of the proposed information collection as described below.

EPA is proposing to determine that the Dallas/Fort Worth (DFW) moderate 8-hour ozone nonattainment area did not attain the 1997 8-hour ozone national ambient air quality standard (NAAQS or standard) by June 15, 2010, the attainment deadline set forth in the Clean Air Act (CAA or Act) and Code of Federal Regulations (CFR) for moderate nonattainment areas. This proposal is based on EPA's review of complete, quality assured and certified ambient air quality monitoring data for the 2007-2009 monitoring period that are available in the EPA Air Quality System (AQS) database. If EPA finalizes this determination, the DFW area will be reclassified by operation of law as a serious 8- hour ozone nonattainment area for the 1997 8-hour standard. The serious area attainment date for the DFW area would be as expeditiously as practicable, but not later than June 15, 2013. Once reclassified, Texas must submit State Implementation Plan (SIP) revisions for the DFW area that meet the 1997 8-hour ozone nonattainment requirements for serious areas as required by the Act. In this action, EPA is also proposing that Texas submit the required SIP revisions for the serious area attainment demonstration, reasonable further progress (RFP), reasonably available control technology (RACT), contingency measures, and for all other serious area measures required under CAA section 182(c) to EPA no later than one year after the effective date of the final rulemaking for this reclassification; except that we propose that Texas submit the required SIP revision for the Stage II vapor recovery to EPA no later than two years after the effective date of the final rulemaking for this reclassification, pursuant to section 182(b)(3)(A) of the Act.

In this order, EPA again denies objections by the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC) to actions establishing tolerance regulations for the pesticides acetamiprid and mepiquat under section 408 of the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act (FFDCA). EPA's previous denial of NRDC's objections, published in the Federal Register on August 10, 2005, was remanded to EPA by the U.S. Court of Appeals, Ninth Circuit, for further explanation of EPA's decision on the application of the FFDCA's requirement concerning an additional safety factor for the protection of infants and children to these pesticide tolerances. On remand, EPA is denying NRDC's objections because the objections are now either moot or not sufficient to justify the relief requested.

Pursuant to the Federal Advisory Committee Act, Public Law 92- 463, the Environmental Protection Agency, Office of Research and Development (ORD), gives notice of a public meeting (via conference call) of the Board of Scientific Counselors (BOSC) Executive Committee.

This document announces the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) responses to Agency Clearance requests, in compliance with the Paperwork Reduction Act (44 U.S.C. 3501 et seq.). An agency may not conduct or sponsor, and a person is not required to respond to, a collection of information unless it displays a currently valid OMB control number. The OMB control numbers for EPA regulations are listed in 40 CFR part 9 and 48 CFR chapter 15.

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), Region 2 is issuing a Notice of Intent to Delete the Peter Cooper Corporation (Markhams) Superfund Site (Markhams Site) located in the Town of Dayton, Cattaraugus County, New York from the National Priorities List (NPL) and requests public comments on this notice of intent. The NPL, promulgated pursuant to section 105 of the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act (CERCLA) of 1980, as amended, is an appendix of the National Oil and Hazardous Substances Pollution Contingency Plan (NCP). The EPA and the State of New York, through the Department of Environmental Conservation (NYSDEC), have determined that all appropriate response actions under CERCLA, other than operation and maintenance and five-year reviews, have been completed. However, this deletion does not preclude future actions under Superfund.

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Science Advisory Board (SAB) Staff Office announces a public teleconference on August 25, 2010 of the Clean Air Scientific Advisory Committee Particulate Matter Review Panel (Panel) to discuss its draft letter on the Policy Assessment for the Review of Particulate Matter National Ambient Air Quality StandardsSecond External Review Draft (June 2010).

In compliance with the Paperwork Reduction Act (44 U.S.C. 3501 et seq.), this document announces that an Information Collection Request (ICR) has been forwarded to the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) for review and approval. This is a request to renew an existing approved collection. The ICR which is abstracted below describes the nature of the collection and the estimated burden and cost.

During a review of Louisiana's regulations, EPA identified a variety of State-initiated changes to Louisiana's hazardous waste program under the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act, as amended (RCRA), for which the State had not previously sought authorization. EPA proposes to authorize the State for the program changes. In addition, the EPA proposes to codify in the regulations entitled ``Approved State Hazardous Waste Management Programs'', Louisiana's authorized hazardous waste program. The EPA will incorporate by reference into the Code of Federal Regulations (CFR) those provisions of the State regulations that are authorized and that EPA will enforce under RCRA.

The State of North Carolina, through the North Carolina Department of Environment and Natural Resources (NC DENR), and the State of South Carolina, through the South Carolina Department of Environmental Control (SC DHEC), submitted letters with a request for EPA to grant a one-year extension of the attainment date for the 1997 8-hour ozone national ambient air quality standards (NAAQS) for the Charlotte-Gastonia-Rock Hill, North Carolina-South Carolina Area (hereafter referred to as the ``bi-state Charlotte Area''), on April 28, 2010, and May 6, 2010, respectively. The bi-state Charlotte Area consists of Cabarrus, Gaston, Lincoln, Mecklenburg, Rowan, Union and a portion of Iredell County (Davidson and Coddle Creek Townships), North Carolina; and a portion of York County, South Carolina. In today's action, EPA is proposing to determine that the states of North Carolina and South Carolina have met the Clean Air Act (CAA or the Act) requirements to obtain a one-year extension to their attainment date for the 1997 8-hour ozone NAAQS for the bi-state Charlotte Area. As a result, EPA is proposing to approve a one-year extension of the 1997 8- hour ozone moderate attainment date for the bi-state Charlotte Area. Specifically, EPA is proposing to extend the bi-state Charlotte Area's attainment date from June 15, 2010, to June 15, 2011.

EPA is proposing to approve revisions to the South Coast Air Quality Management District (SCAQMD) portion of the California State Implementation Plan (SIP). These revisions concern oxides of nitrogen (NOx) emissions from natural gas-fired, fan-type central furnaces and other miscellaneous NOx sources. We are proposing to approve the local rules to regulate these emission sources under the Clean Air Act as amended in 1990 (CAA or the Act).

In accordance with section 6(f)(1) of the Federal Insecticide, Fungicide, and Rodenticide Act (FIFRA), as amended, EPA is issuing a notice of receipt of requests by registrants to voluntarily cancel certain pesticide registrations. EPA intends to grant these requests at the close of the comment period for this announcement unless the Agency receives substantive comments within the comment period that would merit its further review of the requests, or unless the registrants withdraw their requests. If these requests are granted, any sale, distribution, or use of products listed in this notice will be permitted after the registrations have been canceled only if such sale, distribution, or use is consistent with the terms as described in the final order.

This notice announces the Agency's receipt of several initial filings of pesticide petitions proposing the establishment or modification of regulations for residues of pesticide chemicals in or on various commodities.

This action is a supplemental notice of data availability and a request for comment related to EPA's January 26, 2010, notice of proposed rulemaking (NPRM), proposing numeric nutrient water quality criteria to protect aquatic life in lakes and flowing waters within the State of Florida. In the January 2010 NPRM, EPA proposed to classify Florida's streams into four regions (referred to in the proposed rule as ``Nutrient Watershed Regions'') for application of total nitrogen (TN) and total phosphorus (TP) criteria. Streams within each of these regions (Panhandle, Bone Valley, Peninsula and North Central) reflect similar geographical characteristics including phosphorus-rich soils, nutrient concentrations and nutrient ratios. In this notice, EPA is requesting comment on revised stream region boundaries based on additional information about watershed delineations and phosphorus-rich geological formations in Florida. Based on comments and additional information, this revised regionalization approach would result in five Nutrient Watershed Regions for Florida's streams and a clarification of certain watershed boundaries for the Bone Valley and Peninsula regions. EPA is also requesting comment on basing the TN and TP criteria for the nutrient watershed regions on a combination of the 75th and 90th percentile values (depending on regions) of the benchmark sites outlined in the alternate approach at proposal. EPA is continuing to consider the primary approach proposed in January 2010 to use the 75th percentile of sites with healthy biological condition as measured by the Stream Condition Index (SCI). The January 2010 proposal also proposed application of the Vollenweider equation to ensure that nutrient criteria in streams are protective of downstream lakes and requested comment on alternative approaches such as the BATHTUB model and whether there should be an allowance for use of other models that are demonstrated to be protective and scientifically defensible. Today's notice also requests comment on using the BATHTUB model in place of the Vollenweider equation for deriving both TP and TN criteria to protect downstream lakes, allowing the use of alternative models under certain circumstances, and providing for an alternative approach to protect downstream lakes when limited data are available that would use the lake criteria themselves as criteria for upstream waters flowing into the lake. EPA is seeking comment on alternative stream regionalization approaches, use of the benchmark dataset to derive criteria, and derivation of lake downstream protection values discussed in more detail below, and will consider the comments received before finalizing the proposed rule, ``Water Quality Standards for the State of Florida's Lakes and Flowing Waters.'' This supplemental notice focuses solely on the delineation of stream nutrient regions, resulting criteria associated with two approaches (EPA's SCI-based approach and the alternative benchmark distribution approach), and protection of downstream lakes in Florida. EPA is not soliciting comment on any other provisions of the January 2010 proposal.

EPA proposes to determine that the Las Vegas Valley nonattainment area in Nevada attained the National Ambient Air Quality Standard (NAAQS) for particulate matter with an aerodynamic diameter of less than or equal to a nominal ten micrometers (PM10) by the applicable attainment date (December 31, 2006), and that the Las Vegas Valley nonattainment area is currently attaining the standard.

Notice is hereby given that the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has designated, in accordance with 40 CFR part 53, one new equivalent method for measuring concentrations of lead (Pb) in total suspended particulate matter (TSP) in the ambient air.

The EPA proposes to revise the codification of New York's authorized hazardous waste program which is set forth in the regulations entitled ``Approved State Hazardous Waste Management Programs'', New York's authorized hazardous waste program. EPA will incorporate by reference into the Code of Federal Regulations (CFR) those provisions of the State regulations that are authorized and that EPA will enforce under the Solid Waste Disposal Act, as amended and commonly referred to as the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA).